Aromatic, fresh and peachy, offering hints of almond and hazelnut with a bright, medium-bodied texture. Well-spiced, featuring creamy accents on the rich finish. Drink now through 2017. 25 cases imported.??–KM??Region: Austria / Nieder?sterreich / Wachau Select to Add

Lush, ripe and exotic, with a creamy essence to the pear, gooseberry and ruby grapefruit flavors. Floral notes appear on the broad, well-spiced finish. Drink now. 30 cases imported.??–KM??Region: Austria / Nieder?sterreich / Wachau Select to Add

The Hirtzberger 2010 Grauburgunder Smaragd Pluris was not harvested until November 22, and even then at a, for this wine, unusually low alcohol of just 13%. Low-toned lightly-roasted coffee and chicory, artichoke and smoked meat broth make for an unusually piquant savor that could almost have come from a Gruner Veltliner. This finishes with invigorating piquancy, mouthwatering salinity, and persistent intrigue, a wine I would love to be able to play around with at table over the next 6-8 years. Given the penchant at this address for late harvest; considerable skin contact; and must aeration, I was not surprised to learn from Franz Hirtzberger Junior that only their Riesling Federspiel had been at all de-acidified. “If there’d been even a bit more hanging out there though,” he notes “then we wouldn’t have made it” – i.e. acheived ripe grapes. “We learned our lesson from 1996,” as Hirtzberger Senior saw it, namely not to harvest – despite ongoing crop loss and fear of ignoble rot (though in this case that didn’t materialize) – until the acids finally began to diminish and the skins to properly ripen. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700

Harvested mid-October from botrytis-free fruit and at a surprisingly low 13.5% alcohol, the Hirtzberger 2007 Grauburgunder Smaragd Pluris smells of peach, wood smoke, and toasted almond; is rich and full yet surprisingly luscious and lively on the palate; and finishes with smoky pungency and a horseradish-like nip which (based on the vintner’s comments) I shall assume comes from something other than botrytis. Most of Hirtzberger’s 2007 vintage Gruner Veltliner reflect their late dates of harvest and the presence of botrytis (a certain amount of which he always welcomes) in rich, low tones.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700